Chapter 2 - P rogramme 1 - Department of Defence

| Department of Defence | Vote 20 |
REPORT OF THE AUDITOR-GENERAL TO PARLIAMENT
ON THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND PERFORMANCE
INFORMATION OF VOTE NO. 20 - DEPARTMENT OF
DEFENCE for the year ended 31 March 2008
REPORT ON THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
Introduction
1.
I have audited the accompanying financial statements of the Department of Defence which comprise
the appropriation statement, statement of financial position as at 31 March 2008, statement of
financial performance, statement of changes in net assets and cash flow statement for the year then
ended, and a summary of significant accounting policies and other explanatory notes, as set out on
pages 253 to 332.
Responsibility of the accounting officer for the financial statements
2.
The accounting officer is responsible for the preparation and fair presentation of these financial
statements in accordance with the modified cash basis of accounting determined by National
Treasury, as set out in accounting policy note 1.1 and in the manner required by the Public Finance
Management Act, 1999 (Act No. 1 of 1999) (PFMA). This responsibility includes:
designing, implementing and maintaining internal control relevant to the preparation and fair
presentation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to
fraud or error
selecting and applying appropriate accounting policies
making accounting estimates that are reasonable in the circumstances.
Responsibility of the Auditor-General
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As required by section 188 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 read with
section 4 of the Public Audit Act, 2004 (Act No. 25 of 2004) (PAA), my responsibility is to express
an opinion on these financial statements based on my audit.
I conducted my audit in accordance with the International Standards on Auditing and General Notice
616 of 2008, issued in Government Gazette No. 31057 of 15 May 2008. Those standards require that I
comply with ethical requirements and plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance on
whether the financial statements are free from material misstatement.
An audit involves performing procedures to obtain audit evidence about the amounts and disclosures
in the financial statements. The procedures selected depend on the auditor’s judgement, including the
assessment of the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to fraud or
error. In making those risk assessments, the auditor considers internal control relevant to the entity’s
preparation and fair presentation of the financial statements in order to design audit procedures
that are appropriate in the circumstances, but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the
effectiveness of the entity’s internal control.
An audit also includes evaluating the:
• appropriateness of accounting policies used
• reasonableness of accounting estimates made by management
• overall presentation of the financial statements.
247 Annual Report FY 2007 - 2008
| Financial Performance |